MSU College of Human Medicine to Hold Annual Teddy Bear Picnic Saturday

MSU College of Human Medicine to hold annual Teddy Bear Picnic

On Saturday, October 1, the MSU College of Human Medicine will be hosting their annual Teddy Bear Picnic. The event will feature many different activities including athletic team appearances, giveaways, face painting, and more.

The Teddy Bear Picnic was first held in 2005 as a fundraiser, and has developed into an event for the community. Only since 2013 has it been a free event, mainly due to its generous sponsors. “When I took over the administration of the event in 2013, I made a commitment to make the event free and open to the public so that all children in the Greater Lansing area, regardless of their family financial circumstances, could attend and experience this event,” said Barbara Ball-McClure, of MSU’s Human College of Medicine. “I wanted to make sure that all children can be around our medical professionals and medical students in an environment of fun.”

Many people are expected to turn out for the event, with Ball-McClure estimating that 1,500 people will attend. The event has averaged 1,200 attendees in the years since it became free to attend. At this year’s event both the MSU Women’s Basketball team and the Women’s Soccer team will be in attendance to show children drills and get them involved in games. MSU’s Kinesiology Department will also be keeping kids active with jump roping, hop scotch, and other physical activities.

The East Lansing community will also be well represented. An ambulance will be on hand to be toured by youngsters, and there will be a Blue Cross Blue Shield Teddy Bear Hospital so children can bring in their bear to be examined (and even treated with radiology, anesthesiology, and other medical procedures). Bicycle helmets will be given away by Compass Health/Lansing Neurosurgery.

MSU Police will be bringing officers to meet attendees, including a K-9 officer. Other sponsors including Meijer and MSUFCU will have booths and the YMCA is bringing a brand new mobile food bus to test out with the picnic crowd.

Ball-McClure says the event has two main goals: “First, for the youngsters to be around our medical students, physicians, and other medical professionals in a non-threatening environment, and second, for our medical and nursing students to be around the youngsters.”

The event will take place from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, October 1, and it is a free event being held at the MSU Clinical Center (804 Service Road, East Lansing).

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Disclosure: The interim dean of CHM, Aron Sousa, is a major donor to ELi. (He was not consulted in the planning or production of this article, but he asked us to add this disclosure.)